The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) picked up a little yesterday afternoon to end the day just 17 points down at 6,747, and so far today it has recovered 10 points to reach 6,757 and stand 22 points ahead on the week. We should be getting the latest from the US Federal Reserve together with European economic figures, and sentiment towards them seems mildly positive.
Which shares are helping keep the FTSE heading in the right direction? Here are three from the London indices:
Old Mutual
Old Mutual (LSE: OML) reported a positive third quarter today, and its shares responded with a modest 2p (1%) rise to 202p.
Gross sales were up 11% during the period to £6.5bn, and funds under management gained 14% to £287.5bn over the nine months to date. The firm also enjoyed a net client cash inflow of £2.6bn. Chief executive Julian Roberts told us “Gross sales in Emerging Markets continue to be healthy and Old Mutual Wealth saw a large rise in gross sales on the UK platform and in Old Mutual Global Investors“.
Old Mutual shares are level with the FTSE over 12 months, and they’re on a fairly modest-looking forward P/E of 10.5 with a dividend yield of about 4% forecast.
easyJet
We had October passenger statistics from easyJet (LSE: EZJ) this morning, telling us that passenger numbers picked up 5.4% from 5.25 million in October 2012 to 5.53 million this October. The achieved load factor was up too, by 0.7 percentage points to 89.1%. Over a rolling 12-month period, that equates to a 4% rise in passenger numbers to 61 million with a load factor of 89.4%. The improvement came despite an increase in flight cancellations due to strikes in France and Italy.
The easyJet share price has been falling back a little since July’s peak, but it’s still up around 90% over 12 months. Forward P/E stands at 13, with a dividend yield of around 2.5% expected.
Moneysupermarket.Com
If we want big rises today, we need to look to the FTSE 250, where Moneysupermarket.Com shares climbed 22p (14%) to 177p after the price comparison firm released pretty good Q3 figures.
With performance in line with expectations, the firm told us revenue was up 5% with EBITDA up 26% over the same quarter a year ago, and that it has made a “very strong” start to Q4 with revenue so far up more than 25% — recent energy price rises have led to more people switching suppliers.
For the full year, EBITDA is now expected to beat the current analysts’ consensus.